Bushnell Stealth View night vision monocular

Well, this may or may not fit in this review section, but here goes anyway. Besides, isn’t a night vision scope a good Jeep accessory? ;)

Here is what I just bought: http://www.bushnell.com/products/oth...n/stealthview/

It totally BLOWS AWAY my generation 1 "green screen" NV monocular. In fact, the old one is for sale on Craigslist right now. :) Nothing can hide from it, even in pitch darkness. In fact, if it's an animal looking at you, their eyes are a set of headlights as they reflect back that invisible (to organic creatures) light to the scope.

The Stealth View name (I think) refers to the frequency of the IR source. (InfraRed) It's beyond vision range, unlike the older scopes who seemed to have a dull red cigarette ash glow when you looked into one from the 'wrong' end. You won't see it on this scope, unless you're looking at it with another night scope. :)

The digital type scope is actually an ultra low light camera, (0.001 lux) and you look at a tiny TV screen thru the view finder. One big advantage is a video out for seeing on a TV or recording what you see. And, unlike the old NV scopes and their distorted green circle, the view is sharp from edge to edge. It can also be used in the daytime, very unlike the tube type scopes. And, you can look towards a light (passing car etc.) and still see what's there. The old scopes glare out, and you can't see anything.

There are two IR sources on this scope. A small wide angle flood under the front, and it reaches out to 50' or so, and it's on with the main power. The long finned tube on the side houses a spotlight version that reaches out to several hundred feet. It will wash out anything close, so it's only for seeing something over 75' ~ 100' away. Moonlight is all you need to light up your view, so the IR is for really dark nights.

There are four buttons on top. An on/off for the main power, an on/off for the long range IR, and + & - buttons for the TV screen contrast/gain. One thing I like is the gain stays the same even if it's been off for a while.

I've read other reviews that make me laugh. People complain that there is light from the view finder, and their night vision is toast after using it. Well, DUH! You're looking at a TV screen that pretty much provides a day-lit view, and your other eye can't see anything but blackness, so...? And since it's a monocular, your other eye is still dark adapted. It can be disorienting with one dark eye when you put the scope down, but it recovers soon enough. It's not that much light either, but if you're dark adapted, it can seem bright. There's a Stealth View II that has a color monitor. There isn't going to be any color in darkness under IR for what should be obvious reasons, but people complain about that too.

Other reviewers do talk about the battery issue though, and that's an easy fix. It is like a lot of electronics: it's not really off, but is in sleep mode waiting for a power button push. So, either pull out the battery pack, or plug in a DC power cord to break the circuit, or the batteries go dead in a month or so. I used an old cord and made up a jumper. I just plug in the short ''dead'' cord for storage, and it hangs free (and still attached) when I'm using the scope. And, speaking of batteries, it uses six AA's instead of $12 a pair lithium CR123's. That's a major advantage as they're cheap and can be bought anywhere. While I was making my power cord disable thing, I also made a long power cord for the Jeep so I can save the batteries when using it in or close to the Jeep by plugging into the cigarette lighter socket. It's just a common coaxial DC plug you can get at Radio Shack and the like. (Center positive)

One last thing, a lot of specs (online) say the field of view is 30' at 1,000 yards. Give me a break, that would be only 30' of view width at 3,000 feet, which would be tighter than the beam spread of a laser pointer. (About 1 military mil of angle) The specs should read 30' at 100 yards. It's a misprint that everyone everywhere reprints. It is in fact, about like any other 5x magnification scope/binocular's field of view. It isn't a close up or use-in-a-house NV scope, it's for seeing what's lurking in the tree line 150' away.

Interesting product, Thanks for sharing. It seems as if it might be a good thing to have if boondocking in the Arizona desert. I imagine it could be connected to a monitor inside and supplied with DC power continously to provide night time security. Would the use of the tube over a long term degrade it's performance? I also looked for a price? How much did it cost?

Thanks again Adondo, I like your toys and the way you think. I have a new toy coming that might be fun to see,

When it's on, it's on. There's no timeout or momentary power mode. It has a tripod mount and video out, so it's probably that way for setting up as a surveillance camera. Having the power time out wouldn't work there.

I have a TV monitor in a box. I built it years ago for setting up security cameras in jails and the like. (It's a helluva lot faster/easier than yo-yoing back to the control room) It's self contained with a battery pack, and has a 7'' color monitor and video in/out jacks. I built it into a small aluminum tool box. It works great with the night scope.

Since it's a CMOS camera, I doubt it'll degrade like the old type night scopes.

That's an interesting setup, as most monoculars over the years have been so useless as to not be worth the purchase.

Having dabbled a bit in NVS (I had an old Gen. 1 Yukon unit for basically doing what you're doing with that one, and a Gen.II+ unit I keep mounted on my PTR91), I'm curious what the Generation designation IS for that unit. It might not be a bad little item to keep in a BoB, or the glove box.

They claim gen 2+ but I'm guessing that's with the IR lighting things up and the pretty good resolution of the little B&W screen. A true gen 2 scope would be that bright withOUT the IR source. Either way, it's SOoooo much better than the old gen 1 tube scope, IR or not. It's actually usable as you can see something besides vague silhouettes shimmering in a distorted green circle. :) What I've never liked about the tube type scopes is the "swimming" the image does as you pan around, and the fuzzy edges that you can never get focused. There's none of that crap with the digital scope. If the object is not lit well enough with IR, then there's a little "TV snow" but even that beats out the tube scope's images.

I got mine from eBay from what turned out to be a pawn shop in Ohio. :) The original box has a price tag from Norton's Sports with $599.95. I paid 'only' $269 for mine, and it's used, but in nice condition. Most of those (Bushnell Stealth) and a similar Yukon Ranger are on average $350 ~ $375 on eBay. For what it does, I think it's worth the price. It wasn't worth the $$$ for the old tube scopes.

You do have to watch out for the rip-off artists though, as some are as high as $800. Or... something like $325 and $70 shipping. The high S&H has always annoyed the heck out of me, because it's just a profit-padding device sellers use to bypass eBay and Paypal seller's fees. (The final sale fees do not include S&H charges) You see lots of point and click cameras that you know weigh 5 oz. with $35 shipping, and that's why - they're not padding the packing box with lead bricks, they're padding their wallets with your dough. :D

On a semi-related note, I bought a set of Canon IS binoculars last year. http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/p...zer/10_x_30_is

Got those on eBay too, for I think close to the same price. (Less than $300 anyway) I will say that one good long look through those, and you're all done with non-stabilized binocs for life, I don't care if they're a pair of $1,200 Carl Zeiss 'nocs. :D

You'd think 10x30 would be on the low end of binoc specs, but A) we're talking Canon glass here, and B) they're steady even while driving. I've had buddies use them while we're out in the Jeep, while off-roading. Having them on a 'virtual tripod' while hand-holding them, and you can see well in dim lighting too. I've studied bird feathers on birds IN FLIGHT with those babies. :) The image 'shifts' to catch up as you pan something moving as the gyros compensate.